The more I see photos of Hikaru's VF-1S the more it is growing on me. I just really love the VF-1 design.

 

Both Hobby Search and NY arrived today. Here’s mine below and NY is spoken for by another board member here. Glad to keep it in the family.

 

Got my DX VF-1S in. Initial impressions:

• I think this production run was rushed to meet high demand before the holiday season was over. Joints are looser compared to my DX VF-1A Max, feels similar to my DX VF-1J(as in, after having handled my DX VF-1J for a while). I'm used to DX Macross figures with diecast ball joints from Bandai going loose over time, but not out of the box.
• Canopy has a tighter fit due to the pilot being bigger and the movie arrangement of the sidesticks(you can have the pilot figure grab on to each one). Since the pilot is made of PVC, the forearms can squeeze inwards a bit to shut the canopy all the way.
• Mine has the misprint "100" modex number on the right stabilizer. Not a dealbreaker but a surprise nonetheless. Also surprising to not see the Skull Team badge printed aft of the canopy.
• The dark grey latch that tabs into the fuselage in battroid mode below the waist swivel can come undone easily through mere movement of the hips. This was something my DX VF-1J has but seemed rectified on the DX VF-1A(on my VF-1A you have to try to pry the hip bar/latch off)
• The head sculpt IMO is the best VF-1S head sculpt I've seen in toy form. The 1S head is hard to draw and harder to capture in physical form. Yet it manages to look like Kawamori's lineart without looking flat nor stiff. There is a difference from previous 1S head sculpts where the frills beneath the chin/cheeks are molded separately from the head(or there's a gap present). The head laser bases are ball jointed like on the 1J but each head laser is able to pivot at an angle like a monoshaft joint. Makes for a much more dynamic head sculpt.
• Rear landing gear don't really click into position when moving forward.
• Intake covers still fall out easily

For now, in short, bring on Roy's VF-1S, I just hope the tolerances are just as tight as my DX VF-1A Max.

And sans serif Arial or Impact font would be better for his name printed on the canopy frame. Surprised Tenjin went with fancy font for the names.

It also blows my mind how well the head tucks in for fighter/gerwalk mode. You can barely see the visor. Bandai excels in that department.

 

I think I will skip Hikaru's 1S and just wait for Roy. I'n glad I got the VF-1A Max to experience the mold at it's best so far in terms of build quality.

 

Waiting for Roy is not a bad idea but I wouldn't judge the quality of Hikaru's 1S based on one person's copy. Plenty of people have reported as good or better tolerances as the 1A with the only fault being the Tampo mishap.

 

Haha, that's a great way to justify it! To me, it's a complete non-factor either way. I saw on MW that you can easily remove the tampo if you wish with thinner and it is printed directly on black plastic so no worry about damaging any paint under it.

 

My worry about doing that is what if the rest of the squad have the same “issue”? I’d rather wait and see.

 

Pretty much. The tiny numbers mean next to nothing to me.

 

The Max one is good and what sticks out too is the shade of blue that Bandai used. It doesn't show up well in pics but in person it's pleasantly darker compared to the Yamatos. Hopefully Roy's VF-1S will be just as tight as my Max 1A.

The head lasers are fun to manipulate on the DX 1S. You can have them looking like either pair that the HI METAL R 1S comes with.

I've also noticed that the drawer joints on the legs for my DX 1S are easier to move(in a good way) compared to my DX 1A/J.

 

You know, mine were tight on my 1J, and I wondered if they'd loosen those up a bit. I'm planning to wait to see if the resale values of the 1S come down a bit, sort of like how the 1A did, on AJ.

 

Are there any sellers on AJ shipping to the US? I’ve been watching the listings thinking maybe if the prices got low enough I’d pick one up, but haven’t seen any doing the international yet. Even the one that several of us used to get the Max 1A isn’t doing it this time around.

 

Prices have gone down a bit on AJ but nobody is shipping directly to the US yet. Probably when it hits 24K Yen including JP tax and the seller has that 5% back cashless promotion, the total cost (including Amazon's shipping) will be close to retail plus EMS if bought somewhere else. It's just been a week since release so maybe another week and we'll see it be made available to ship internationally.

 

I found one that shipped to US yesterday but it was ~26000 + ~4000 shipping so a bit over 30000. I passed on that.

 

I think we’re going to be hard pressed to find an AJ seller simply because AJ themselves never released with global ship.

 

Question for the group: Thoughts on the YF-25 Prophecy or VF-171EX Nightmare Plus. Are those grails to have or plagued with issues like the rest of Frontier?

 

I had both the yf-25 and a vf-25a. I only wanted one of the mold but couldn’t decide, so I bought both.

ended up selling the yf-25. Something about it in person didn’t quite stand up to the pictures I’d seen. I also though the 25a had more “character” to it, if that makes sense (but I’ve also always had a soft spot for grunt mecha).

At any rate, it’s the same as all the other renewal vf-25s. Mine was brand new when I opened it but had slightly looser hip connection than my 25a, and I think one of the shoulders was a little looser, so basically just all the expected issues with these figures.

I wouldn’t really call either a grail though. You can find them really easily and they cost about the same as any other Macross figure.

 

Don't have the Prophecy but I had the V1 DX Alto and I have the Renewal 25F/G/S' and RVF-25. The Prophecy has the same build as the other Renewals aside from the new head and canopy. So it's not immune to issues present on the others. The problem is there's no telling when the issues will come up. You can literally leave 1 on a stand untouched(in a plain pose that's not weighing down the joints) for 3 years in an air conditioned room with in non-tropical/extreme climate only to find some if its balljoints rag doll loose later. How that happens is beyond me. Ditto for the spring pin cracks.

I have the DX VF-171EX Alto, I consider it the most beautiful Macross lemon I own. Very disappointed given how much I liked it in the anime. Looks great but is overengineered(especially noticeable if you handle the Yamato VF-17 afterwards which was said to be designed by the same guy) in ways that are not impressive. Bandai nailed it in screen accuracy but you'll question the lack of locking for the lower torso/hips(common complaint), why the hand retraction makes a simple thing more complex and why the knee/lower leg pivots were made to be more complex than needed. It's almost as if the DX VF-171 was a working rough draft and the Yamato VF-17 is like how the DX VF-171 should've been(transformation-wise).

They look pretty but just giving my honest opinion, looks aren't everything when Yamato raised the bar pretty high when they were around. I expect more out of Bandai since they're a far bigger company. They've come quite a ways from their Macross license squatting days but still have a ways to go.

 

Best description of the 171 I've ever read! It looks great, and incredibly screen accurate. But it is the least fun VF to handle that I own. It's frustrating in ways that it should not be, and is just not fun to transform at all.